Theist Perspectives

This page is intended for believers who wish to argue for religion and/or against those who do not subscribe. Only quality articles will be considered, as there are a lot of judgmental and rude articles around the Web (both believers and nonbelievers alike).

If you wish to submit a theist article that is civil and is worthy of debate, then please link me to it in the comments below.

5 Comments

AmyWednesday November 28th, 2012 @ 5:48pm

Hey guys, I’m Amy and I’ll guess I’ll be blunt from the start. I’m a minister’s kid. Yeah, I wish I could see whatever was going through your head there. Then again, I’ve been mocked and persecuted many a time, and usually before they even got to know me. So, if your still reading this, allow me to introduce myself again.

Hey guys, I’m Amy. I like chillstep. I enjoy dancing various styles. My favorite color is blue. And the most dangerous I get is when I’m speeding to the nearest Chinese restaurant for sushi or if I’m late for my nursing classes. My parents were great as they didn’t blindly follow their faith. My father studied for years about the historical and cultural aspects behind the Bible and has a great church attendance not because he reigns hell fire but because he applies teachings in a practical, logical, and loving way. As for me, there hasn’t been a single question I haven’t asked; I’m always welcomed to discuss things about my faith I don’t get. Sometimes I agree, sometimes I don’t. I won’t go so far to say I’m a know all as I’ve never memorized all the books of the Bible, but I’ve come to know a thing or two about how Christians and non-Christians think of one another. So here’s my two cents.

As everyone tries to discover who they are and what life is all about, every person undergoes the quest for spirituality. It’s important to note that spirituality is different from religion. It is the core urge, not the rituals. In many ways, I sympathize with atheists for it’s true, Christianity can easily bee seen as superficial with so many rituals and rules and regulations. I feel many both religious groups and atheist get turned off as their spiritual drive is repressed. And I’m not the only one who thinks that. Many of my religious friends don’t even want to be called Christian as they feel it no longer describes how the feel and rather makes the non-religious defensive causing confrontation and frustration that leaves either side feeling better. Nothing bothered me more than schoolmates asking question after question not caring about the answer but just itching for me to trip up. We were children then, but the problem of the ignorant accusing others of ignorance still continues. And yes, I know this goes both ways. I feel awful for my non Christian friends who have had such bad experiences with religion they screw it altogether. And to have them say how comfortable they feel in the presence of my family is a compliment I take seriously and happily. Even my boy friend, an agnostic, continues to date me as he’s beginning to realize that we’re not that bad.

So to wrap it all up. I’m not going to condemn this site or seek out an argument because I think I can speak for both of us when I say we’ve been there and done that and said it all before. But I do get upset when atheist show so much hatred towards Christianity just because of a bad experience or two. Try being a minister daughter, until I went to college, going to both church and school was a bad experience every time. So for this reason, I offer a little of my life and my personality up to show that as a Christian, I’m pretty human. And chill. I hope if nothing else, you think I’m chill. And that I like chillstep. Seriously, good stuff. Okay bye.

Go out of the area of the omnipotence of Allâhu ta’âlâ with all
your strength, if you can! But you cannot. Outside of this area is
nonexistence. And the realm of nonexistence is also under His
omnipotence!

Let us come to the point:
As you have not come out of nonexistence to this world of
existence on your own, so you cannot go there on your own. The
eyes with which you see, the ears with which you hear, the organs
with which you perceive, the intellect with which you think, the
hands and feet which you use, all the roads you will pass, all the
places you will be, in short, all the members and systems connected
with your body and soul, all of them, are Allâhu ta’âlâ’s property
and creatures. You cannot misappropriate anything from Him! He
is Hayy and Qayyûm, i.e., He sees, knows, and hears, and every
moment He keeps in existence everything that exists. Even for a
moment, He is never unaware of the state of all things, nor does
He ever fail to control all of them. He does not let anybody steal
His property. He is never incapable of punishing those who
disobey His commands. It would not make any difference if, for
instance, He had not created any human being on this globe, as He
did not on the moon, on Mars or on other planets; His greatness
would not have diminished for this reason.
A hadîth qudsî says: “If [all of] your ancestors and descendants,
the young and the old, the alive and the dead, human beings and
genies, were like My most devoted, Most obedient human creature
, My Greatness would not be increased.
Conversely, if you all were like My enemy, who opposes Me and
despises My Prophets, My Greatness would not ever decrease.
Allâhu ta’âlâ is free from needing you; He does not need any of
you. As for you, in order that you might exist and keep on existing
and in everything you do, you always need Him.”
Do you think of your state before and after you were born?
Where were you, in what were you, during the creation of this
globe, on which you live, eat and drink, go about, amuse and divert
yourself? On this planet, you have discovered the means that are
remedies for your diseases and the ways of defending yourself
against the attacks of your enemies and the harms of wild and
poisonous animals. Where were you while the stones and soil of
this globe were being baked on fires in the ovens of creation and
while its water and air were being distilled in the chemistry
laboratories of the Omnipotence? Have you ever thought: Where
were you while the lands, which you claim to be yours today, were
gliding away from the seas, while mountains, rivers, plateaus and
hills were being laid down? Where and how were you while, with
Allâhu ta’âlâ’s Omnipotence, the salty waters of the seas
evaporated and formed clouds in the sky, while the rains, falling
from those clouds, took substances [of nourishment prepared by
lightning and waves of power and energy in the sky] into the motes
of burnt, dried soil, and while these substances, stirred [by the
influence of the rays of light and heat], vibrated and nourished the
cells of life?
Today, they say that you have descended from monkeys, and
you believe it. When they say that Allâhu ta’âlâ created you, gave
you life, will make you die and that He alone makes everything,
you don’t want to believe!

When people around you follow your wishes and desires you
believe that you are creating everything with your intellect,
knowledge, science, power and strength, and that you are
inventing all accomplishments. You forget about the task which
Allâhu ta’âlâ has assigned to you, and you refrain from that high
official duty and attempt to claim ownership of the deposit. You
want to regard and introduce yourself as the owner and the
dominant one.
On the other hand, when those around you do not follow your
desires, when the external forces seem to overcome you, you can
see inside you nothing but regret and frustration, incapacity and
despair. You claim that you own no will or option, that you are
under the slavery of everything, that you are like a machine,
automatic but with a broken spring.
When your favorite meals do not come to your table, you hold
out your hand and tongue and eat the dry bread which you are able
to obtain, though you are free to eat or not and die of hunger. You
eat the dry morsels that are not crammed into your mouth by
force! You eat but also think that you are deprived of doing
everything. You do not think that your hand and mouth have
moved under your own control, and it has not been caused by
involuntary movements. But, though you possess your self-control
even at such times as this, when you have to, you deem yourself
compelled, a slave, in short, nothing against external effects.
O man! Which of these are you? You claim to be ‘all’ when you
thrive well and when success and victory are with you, and
– 111 –‘nothing’ under the force of fate when the affairs turn out bad and
contrary to your wishes? Are you ‘everything’, or ‘nothing’?
O mankind! O man who is floating on deficiency and stupidity!
You are neither ‘all’ nor ‘nothing’! At any rate, you are something
between these two. Yes, you are far from being inventive,
dominant and victorious over everything. But, you have an
irrefutable freedom and option and a wish and choice rendering
you authoritative. Each of you is an official undertaking individual
and collective duties under the command of Allâhu ta’âlâ, who is
the Unequalled Authority and Absolute and Unconditional
Owner without a partner! You can do your duties under the rules
and regulations established by Him, within the limits of your ranks
assigned by Him, within your responsibilities and means which He
has created and entrusted to you as deposits. He alone is the Sole
Commander, the Unique Ruler and the Single Owner. There is no
other commander besides Him, nor a ruler resembling Him, nor a
partner with Him. Unless the aims and purposes which you lay
claim to and rush upon so zealously, the struggles which you set
about, the glories which you take pride in, and your
accomplishments are for Him, they are false and vain. Then why
do you give a place to lies in your hearts and turn towards
polytheism? Why do you not obey the commands of Allâhu ta’âlâ,
the Unequalled Ruler, and know Him as the Creator? But instead
you run after thousands of imaginary idols and get drowned in
distress? Whatever you run towards, isn’t it an idea, an option or a
belief that drags you on? Why do you look for that ideal belief in
someone other than Allâhu ta’âlâ? Why do you not direct your
belief to Allâhu ta’âlâ and place your option in this belief and in
the deeds which are the results of this belief?
When you know Allâhu ta’âlâ as the Absolute Ruler and work
without violating this trust and responsibilitiy, indeed, you will love
one another and be attached brothers! What will not the Mercy of
Allâhu ta’âlâ create from this brotherhood? Every favour you gain
is the result of a brotherhood produced by the belief in Allâhu
ta’âlâ and of His mercy and benevolence. And every trouble or
calamity you experience is the result of fury, resentment and
hostility, which are infused in you as a retribution for not paying
attention to Allâhu ta’âlâ, for cruelty and injustice. And this is the
result of attempting to make laws by yourselves or by following
others who will compete with Allâhu ta’âlâ; in short, of not
believing only in Allâhu ta’âlâ with a true belief in His Unity.
Briefly, the chief reason for the suffering of humanity is the
– 112 –crime of polytheism committed against Allâhu ta’âlâ. The
darkness of corruption that has surrounded the horizons of
humanity, despite the improvements in knowledge and science, is
the result of polytheism, disbelief, lack of belief in Allâhu ta’âlâ’s
Unity and lack of mutual love. Unless they love one another,
however hard human beings may try, they will not escape
sufferings and disasters. And, unless they know Allâhu ta’âlâ, love
Him, regard Him as the Absolute Ruler and worship Him, men
cannot love one another. Whatever might be thought of other than
Allâhu ta’âlâ and the path of Allâhu ta’âlâ, all of them are paths
leading to divisiveness and wretchedness. Can’t you see that those
who attend the mosque love one another and those who haunt the
tavern fight?
Whatever you give your heart to, or whomever you worship
besides Allâhu ta’âlâ, each of them can be opposed and equated.
And all of them are under the omnipotence and will of Allâhu
ta’âlâ. He is the Single Ruler who does not have a partner, match,
like, opposite or equivalent, and He alone is the One whose
equivalent is non-valid, false, a nonexistent equivalent, the
existence of which is impossible.
Whatever you follow, worship, love or regard as the absolute
ruler besides Allâhu ta’âlâ, be it known that it will burn together
with you.